Local Community Structures and the Novelty and Generality of
Innovations Open Access

Hayward, Scott David
(2010)

Abstract

Abstract
Local Community Structures and the Novelty and Generality of
Innovations
By: Scott D. Hayward
Location has become a key factor in explaining innovation and
technological change.
Local inventors form communities around particular technologies and
industries,
facilitating the flow of knowledge. Local knowledge flows drive
inventor productivity
and give innovations a local flavor. Yet every given region houses
many communities,
and a current debate pits the advantages of knowledge flowing
within a local industry
against those of knowledge flowing across local industries within
the same region.
While location matters for innovation, is it deep pools or diverse
selections of local
knowledge which matter more? This dissertation addresses this
debate by focusing on
whether an inventor's place within a broad structure of regional
communities shapes
the types of innovations they create. Combining patent data with
employment and
establishment data for the years 1977 through 1997, I locate
inventors in technical and
industrial communities housed within different U.S. metropolitan
areas. Results
suggest that local knowledge spillovers shape innovation novelty,
while innovation
generality follows a different process. While prior investigations
focus on local counts
of innovations, these findings advance the field by testing the
logic of local knowledge
spillovers to understand the antecedents of innovation novelty and
generality.
Furthermore, I introduce technical communities as a more direct
measure than local
industries, providing evidence to suggest they are different
concepts and should be
considered in future examinations of local innovation. This
dissertation drives a
broader understanding of how location matters for innovation, with
subsequent
implications for regional growth and technological development.

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